We woke up at 7 after a fitful night. We crashed last night at nine, and mad the requisite wake ups at midnight and three. For awhile, it looked like we wouldnt make it back to sleep after the 3am wake up, but eventually we dozed ... Falling into good sleep after 6.
I had a particularly successful session with dr. Neilmed this morning, and yes, China is much more polluted than Texas. We went down for a delicious buffet breakfast this morning and it surpassed expectations. They had steamed bread, steamed dumplings, smoked fish, eggs, bacon, salads, dragon fruit, and the list goes on and on. The coffee was good. The tea was good. We left full and satisfied.
Our bus tour kicked off at 8:30 and we headed to Tianamen square. It was a clear, cold, windy day. We were completely unprepared for the heavy gusts of wind but enjoyed the deep, blue cloudless sky.
Then we went to the forbidden city which had layer upon layer of defenses to shield the emperor. The artwork was spectacular at every turn. It reminded me of the kind of work done in Egypt. There was also a crush of people like I never imagined. I fancied myself to be a bit of a tourist attraction. Groups of people stood near me to take a picture.
We went to lunch at a jade factory and learned all about how they make jade objects. We also purchased a necklace for me and my hubby showed his negotiation prowess.
Last, we headed to the great wall. It was incredibly tall, and the steps were quite steep. I chickened out about halfway up to the first guardhouse because I was afraid my knee would give out. My hubby kept going but wished he had turned around earlier once he got back down - but he did go high enough to get a "all I got was a great wall tshirt"...
On the ride back to the hotel, we received our official travel approval from the Chinese government. It made me teary and the magnitude of what we are doing hit for a moment,
We came back to the hotel around six, and took a break, warming up briefly before we went to dinner with Carla and Ryan, a couple from Michigan who are adopting their second child from china -a seven year old little boy.
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